Iter
by The97thLiverpudlian
Summary: Sometimes, ignorance is bliss. But not this time.
1. Chapter 1

**Enjoy some delicious exposition **

* * *

Naomi Campbell was _not_ having a good day.

She had woken at 4 in the morning. Two hours earlier than necessary, and then found it impossible to return to sleep. She could not remember dreaming, and figured it unimportant. She had drowsily lumbered into her kitchen, where she discovered she had run out of coffee.

"Fuck." She muttered to no one at all.

She sat down in the cramped apartment she called home. It wasn't much, a small kitchen that consisted of a refrigerator, a sink, and a few cupboards. Connected to this was her living room; which was comprised of a telly, a table, a few chairs, and a window that gave her a rather dreary view of the neighboring Bristol apartments. Down the hall was a bathroom, and across from that was her bedroom of one mattress.

She had moved out of her mother's house not long ago. Although house was a generous term. Naomi preferred, "homeless shelter". Her mother had a little problem with being awfully kind to strangers; and it had gotten to the point where she was inviting people off the streets to live with them. Once Naomi had awoken to her a foot stuffed in her mouth.

No longer able to stand the intrusions, Naomi had packed some clothes, food, toothbrush, and a little money. Her mother had tried to stop her, make her see reason, but she was having none of it. She had stormed out without so much as a goodbye.

And now here she was. She had spent the most of the money she had renting this damned apartment, the rest she was saving for food.

Checking her phone for messages, she saw she had one missed call from Effy.

_Fucking bitch, _she thought.

She didn't really mean that, of course. Effy was her friend from college. Both had met at the beginning of their first year, where they had both merged with the rest of the group they came to call their friends.

There was Cook; the loud and obnoxious one. Although Naomi had to admit his personality added to his charm.

There was Freddie; a skater who to be honest was also a bit of a stoner. But he had a kind heart and caring personality and Naomi knew she could go to him if she had a problem.

There was Effy; cold, blue eyes. Observant. She didn't talk much, but her watchful gaze unnerved her and at times downright disturbed her.

There was Pandora; also loud, but in a good way. Always positive and knew how to cheer the group up. She was a bit dim though.

J.J; short for Jonah Jeremiah Jones. He was autistic and tended to get lost in his rambles which the group had come to affectionately call getting "locked on". He was brilliant though, and had helped Naomi with her homework on a fair amount of occasions.

Thomas; known as "Tommo" to the rest of them. He was always kind and gentle, and a relative newcomer to their group. He had come from the Congo, and it seemed Panda had taken a liking to him.

And then there were the Fitch twins. Katie was the loud and the frequently overbearing one. She loved shopping, loved boys, loved clothes, and also loved walking all over her sister, Emily.

"Emily." She murmured the name. The thing about Emily; was that she was gay. Now that wasn't really a problem. Naomi never had a problem with someone based on their sexual orientation; as a matter of fact, she absolutely _hated _injustice.

No, the problem was that Emily thought _she _was gay. They had had a bit of a…

_What was it, exactly?_

A fling, she supposed. Back in Middle School, they had kissed, and it had been more than a friendly kiss.

_She remembered the feel of Emily's lips on hers. Remembered how it felt for their bodies to be pressed together. Warmth radiating from her small frame. Could feel their tongues collide and wrestle lightly. Emily moved her hands from Naomi's waist to around her neck and pulled her closer. _

"_Oi!"_

That was when Katie had discovered them kissing in the hall, and proceeded to bitch Naomi out right then and there. Emily tried to defend her, to place the blame on herself. But when Katie had entered full rage mode, there was no stopping her. The rumors had begun soon after, followed by teasing, name calling, and everything that came with it. Despite Emily's attempts at comfort, it had just made Naomi feel more trapped. As if Emily thought she couldn't defend herself.

So she had shrugged Emily off. Swore to stay away from her. But they had been drawn back into the same circle of friends; Katie included. There was a fair amount of tension though, but Naomi did her best to ignore it.

Naomi stood up then, she didn't know why she was thinking about these things. It did her no good to think about the past. She turned the telly on then, figuring she could pass the time.

It was the news. Some dick and some other dick were discussing some sort of flu that was going around. Apparently it was extremely lethal to those who contracted it. Naomi shut it with a sigh. She didn't care; there was always something to worry about.

She looked at the old clock hanging on her wall. It had been there when she had arrived, and she felt there was something off about it. It looked at her funny.

_Don't be fucking mental, Naomi, clocks don't look, _was whatshe had thought when she had first looked it over. But it bothered her all the same.

The time on the clock said 7:30. Had she really wasted 3 and a half hours thinking of Emily? For her own sake, she truly hoped not.

She looked down at the phone in her hand, thought briefly of giving Eff a call, and then decided against it. She would see her at college. Instead, she stood up, walked into her bathroom, and turned on the shower.

_This is going to be a long day, _she thought, before stepping under the warm spray of the shower.


	2. Chapter 2

**Took a bit longer than it should have**

* * *

Something was wrong.

At first Naomi thought the strange atmosphere surrounding Roundview College was just a product of the dreary weather. But the past month had brought about a series of rainy days, and she never felt particularly different.

No; it was the lack of people that was the problem.

She usually took comfort in the amount of people that filled the halls and the outside courtyard. She could walk with the masses without attracting much attention to herself; but today there was an unusual lack of students.

Naomi stepped into the common room to find most everyone already there. Cook was lying against one of the couches with Freddie and JJ by his side. Panda was mouthing off excitedly to Thomas, who was listening to her every word with that patient smile on his face.

Katie was in her own little world, surrounded by a bunch of her smartly dressed bitch friends who followed her every word and action as if she was fucking Jesus herself. Naomi felt a surge of anger rise within her. Why did Katie get to be the popular one? What was it about her? Her looks? Her clothes?

_Give me a bit of lip gloss and I could run this fucking school. _

It occurred to her that Emily wasn't in the room. She stood up on her toes to see if maybe she was standing behind Katie, as she tended to do.

"Looking for someone?"

Naomi jumped and spun around so quickly that she almost tripped.

"Fuck, Eff, give a little shout or something next time, yeah?"

Effy's eternal smile widened just a bit.

"Ignoring the question, are we?"

"I wasn't looking for anyone." Naomi replied defensively,

"Didn't look like that from here."

Naomi's answer was to roll her eyes and look the other way. It seemed that Cook had taken it upon himself to present JJ and his magic tricks to the ladies. Not that there were many here.

It was at that moment that Emily chose to walk into the room; she paused and took a moment to flatten her polka dotted skirt. Then, as if she could sense Naomi's gaze on her, she turned and brown eyes met blue. Emily gave her a small smile, and Naomi turned away.

Effy was watching her with an amused sort of look.

"Yes? Was there something you needed?" Naomi scowled.

Effy just shook her head and still smirking; took a seat on one of the couches next to Panda.

"Naomikins!" it was Cook, motioning for her to come over. "Check out this trick JJ's got, fucking brilliant I tell ya."

"Fucks sake." She muttered. "I think I'll pass." Cooks response was to laugh that little laugh of his that pissed her off so much, yet was so oddly endearing.

No sooner had she actually sat down then it was time to go to class. The freshly turned adults made their way to their separate classes; and yet, this was the worst part of the day for her. Politics class always found some way to piss her off; whether it was Cook doing something ridiculous, Katie laughing with her bitch friends behind her back, or worst of all; Emily's somewhat frequent attempts to spark conversation.

She liked the teacher though. Kieran. He didn't give a rat's ass about anything; they had been known to take occasional smoke breaks behind the school; and she sure as shit hoped they would be able to do so today.

But when she followed the other students in, she was greeted by the booming voice of Doug, one of the more annoying teachers in her opinion. Naomi couldn't quite remember what it was he taught, but figured him being in their Politics class wasn't a good thing.

He smiled at each of them as they passed through the door. Naomi rolled her eyes and scanned the room. There were a lot of empty seats today, so she chose a rather inconspicuous back seat. Once everyone had taken their seats, Doug began speaking,

"Morning, class, ah…Kieran was feeling just a tad bit out of the weather today, so I've decided to step in to make sure you all learn the proper material." He bent down to read the notes Kieran had left him.

"It says here you'll be watching a movie today…okay…let's see here…"

What followed was a rather jumbled attempt to locate said movie. Cook turned to Naomi.

"'Ay Naomikins, we're goin' ta hit the pub tonight. You in?"

"What's the occasion?" she asked.

"There need to be a reason to get fucked up?" he grinned at her.

Naomi shot him a look between amusement and exasperation.

"Guess not."

"Then it's settled. We're going to go absolutely FUCKING MENTAL," Cook shot up and raised his arms in mock triumph.

* * *

Classes had ended. The group met outside and agreed to meet at the pub in an hour; which gave Naomi a bit of time to freshen up. She enjoyed hanging out with her friends. That is, when Katie wasn't insulting her or challenging her to something, as she frequently did.

She arrived at her apartment and walked up the creaking staircase until she reached her room. She stopped short when she noticed the note on her door. It was from her landlord.

_Naomi,_

_Some woman was here for you. Said it was urgent._

_Left her number:_

_0117-5674-433_

Naomi knew exactly who the woman was. It was Susan, a friend of her mothers. She had tried to stop Naomi from leaving when she did but even she realized the futility in it eventually.

Naomi considered ignoring the message completely but the word _urgent _stuck in her mind. There were a lot of things Gina and her friends considered urgent. And she supposed this would be about her coming back home. She could see it now; she would dial the number and Susan would pick up and there would be the inevitable and ultimately futile argument about whether she should come back home or not.

But, she'd call anyway. Why? Well, it could be

_(urgent)_

important. And the last thing she needed was to worry about any of this on her night out. So she dialed,

_0_

_1_

_1_

_7_

_5_

_6_

_7_

_4_

_4_

_3_

_3_

Barely a ring and there was a click. "Naomi?!"

"What do you want, Susan?"

"Naomi, it's your mother," Susan's voice was choking with emotion. Naomi knew instantly something was wrong.

"What? What happened?!"

"Oh Lord Naomi…she's dead." Susan sobbed.

The phone hit the floor with a terrible thud.


End file.
